JUST IN: ConCourt rules no confidence vote can be done via secret ballot

The United Democratic Movement (UDM) approached the court last month‚ asking it to order that the vote be conducted by secret ballot.

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. Picture: FILE

Mogoeng said the court could not make such an order‚ given the separation of powers doctrine‚ but the ruling put the decision in the hands of National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete.

“It is declared that the Speaker of the National Assembly has the constitutional power to prescribe that voting in a no confidence motion in the president be conducted by secret ballot‚” chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said in a unanimous judgment.